Padre Pio in the century Francesco Forgione was born in Pietrelcina, a small town on the outskirts of Benevento, on 25 May 1887, from Grazio (known as "Orazio") Maria Forgione and Maria Giuseppa (known as "Peppa") of Nunzio. The house where Padre Pio was born in the century Francesco Forgione Pio that of Zì Grazio. It is located in Vico Storto Valle 27 in Pietrelcina. Only one compartment, accessed by three external steps. To the right of the person entering, a night table and a double bed in wrought iron. Facing the four-glazed window, this is a much used washbasin and an old chest, from there a square table covered with a faded carpet, on which books are stacked, those used by Padre Pio when he went to school by the master Caccavo; within a modest frame, a photograph of him sent to the mother by a young lady from San Giovanni Rotondo. To the left of the entrance, of the house where Padre Pio was born, another chest that, with two chairs, completes the furnishing of the room. On the wall, at the head of the bed, four lithographs of Madonnas and two Crucifixes. In the floor of the house where Padre Pio was born there is a trap door that leads to a room below, used as a warehouse and donkey barn, which can be accessed also for an external door on the side of the house.From the tender age, Francis experienced in himself the desire to consecrate himself totally to God that distinguished him from his peers. This "diversity" was the object of observation by his relatives and friends. Mom Peppa used to say - "she did not fail, she did not quirk, she always obeyed me and her father, every morning and every evening she went to church to visit Jesus and the Madonna. During the day he never went out with his companions. Sometimes I would say to him: "Francì go out a little to play. He refused saying: "I don't want to go because they blaspheme".

In the spur of the Gargano, in Puglia, among the undisputed natural beauties and characteristic villages, there is one of the greatest places of faith in Italy, we are in San Giovanni Rotondo where the Shrine of Padre Pio rises, visited every year by millions of faithful. and prefabricated pillars, decorations of brilliant mosaics with iridescent color, polychrome stained glass whose designs are sharp and sometimes abstract, in short, a slightly different sanctuary than those that come from past centuries, a place where it is difficult to get lost among stuccos and frescoes, but where the strength of faith feels strong and clear.

Going up the stairways that lead from the square to the town, you reach another square overlooking the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the conventual complex where Padre Pio da Pietrelcina lived. and the new church, the two churches, both dedicated to Santa Maria delle Grazie, stand nearby due to the request of the friar who asked for the construction of the new church to accommodate the ever increasing number of pilgrims who came to visit him. On the lower floor is the sarcophagus in which the friar was buried, a tomb that guarded his remains from his death in 1968 until 2008, when the body was transferred to the crystal case of the new sanctuary.